A number of the guests were from the Santa Ana Church Cofradia, guests of Jaime Laya who wrote about the Shrine of Our Lady of the Abandoned in Sta. Ana Church. Theresians also graced the event. Quite a number of contributors to the book are graduates of St. Theresa's College.

The book, Magnificat: Mama Mary's Pilgrim Sites, includes 24 articles focusing on Marian pilgrim sites, eight of which are Philippines sites. The book is published by Anvil and available in Powerbooks and National Bookstores. In the US, contact Linda Nietes of Philippine Expressions for copies.

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the award-winning author of 10 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Vigan and Other Stories, and Out of Cebu: Essays and Personal Prose. She edited four books, co-edited six books, and co-authored a novel, Angelica's Daughters.
Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.
Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has received several travel grants from the USIS.
She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She teaches creative writing at the Writers Program at UCLA-Extension.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Don't forget the book launch of MAGNIFICAT: MAMA MARY'S PILGRIM SITES is June 30, 3 p.m. Powerbooks,Greenbelt 4. Here's a link to an article by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo that came out in today's Philippine Daily Inquirer:

Mama Mary. That is how she is fondly called by many Filipinos who
have a special devotion to her. Frankly, I don’t know how the name came
about or who started it. I did not hear anyone calling her Mama Mary 25
years ago. She was called The Blessed Virgin, The Blessed Mother (with
or without “The”), Mother Mary, Our Lady and Santa Maria with their
equivalents in Filipino languages and dialects, Birhen Maria among them.

As it is used now, the Mama in Mama Mary would translate as Inay or
Nanay (Mother), which is more intimate than the titular and honorific
Ina (ng Awa, or Mother of Mercy, for example). Ah, but the Bicolanos
would protest because Ina, as they refer to the Virgin of Peñafrancia,
is not merely a title but a claim, a declaration that she is their
mother.

I spent some quiet time figuring out the semantic loads of the
maternal titles used to describe Mary. I then sort of realized that Mama
Mary is a Filipino coinage. Or is it? Anthropologists, sociologists and
even the language police might know the answer.

Now most Filipino Christian Catholics (sorry, I’m not comfortable
with the word “Roman” before “Catholic”) call her Mama Mary in whatever
language or dialect they are speaking. They can’t sound more intimate
than that. The convict in prison, the penitent, the supplicant, the
prostitute, the sinner, the saintly, doting mothers, macho fathers,
irrepressible sons and daughters—you hear them whisper, cry out or
affectionately utter the name Mama Mary. How personal, like the way the
neighborhood tambay (bum) would say “bahala na si Lord” in referring to
the compassionate God next door. So, si Lord at si Mama Mary. How Pinoy.

If I am waxing Marian it is because the book “Magnificat: Mama Mary’s
Pilgrim Sites” (167 pages, published by Anvil) will be launched on
Saturday, June 30, 3 p.m., at Powerbooks in Greenbelt 4, Makati. The
book (price: P295) contains 24 essays by devotees on their experiences
in Marian pilgrim sites in the Philippines (eight in this book) and in
other countries (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, India,
Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the United States). Also
included are short write-ups on other international Marian pilgrim
sites. Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio G. Tagle gave the book an
imprimatur.

The book editor, Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, collected the stories.
Brainard is a writer and editor (19 books and counting) known in both
Philippine and Fil-Am communities.

The essays are varied. Many are personal. Celeste (pseudonym of a
contributor), writes about her unwed daughter who was pregnant and how
mother and daughter embarked on a spiritual journey to the Basilica of
Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. A surprise ending waits.

Linda Nietes-Little, seller and promoter of Filipiniana books in
America, writes about her pilgrimage to Fatima with her convert-husband
and ailing sister Violeta “who brought me back to Mama Mary.”

Penelope V. Flores, a professor at San Francisco State University,
writes about her visit to the Maryam Monastery in Lake Tana, Tigray,
Ethiopia. Using a local twig brush, she began painting “as if Mama Mary
told me, ‘Lose yourself. Paint my Lake Tana emanation and your canvases
will show feelings.’”

“At Maria Lanakila, Our Prayers were Heard and Answered” by Millicent
Dypiangco is about her yearning to have a child and how her prayers to
Our Lady of Maria Lanakila in Maui, Hawaii, were answered with the birth
of her daughter Miranda.

Jaime C. Laya writes about the Shrine of Our Lady of the Abandoned in
Sta. Ana Church. My own story is about Our Lady of Caysasay in the
heritage town of Taal, Batangas.

Each essay begins with a photograph of the Marian image in the
pilgrim site and basic information. The book also contains prayers for
devotees. “Magnificat” can serve as a pilgrim’s guide book and show a
path for those in search, on a journey or simply trying to find their
way home. The simple stories may hold answers to questions. The book is
by no means exhaustive but it may lead readers and writers to other
unexplored and little-known Marian sites laden with inspiring stories.

There’s a Marian site in Indonesia that I visited some years ago. It
is the Shrine of Our Lady of Sendang Sono, a “little Lourdes” tucked in a
lush, forested place outside Yogyakarta. I wish I had written about it.
Maybe next time.

In her blurb, writer-editor Erlinda E. Panlilio says: “Running as a
leitmotif in all the essays in this book is the writers’ palpable love
for Mama Mary. Each writer has undergone a change in his or her life or
outlook following a visit to a Marian site. Some may have experienced a
‘miracle,’ or felt consoled and renewed, others a deepening
spirituality, or an epiphany, an insight into the divine. Although we
know that Jesus is the only Way to the Father, it is our belief in the
power of Mary’s intercession to her Son, borne out of the Bible’s Cana
story, that makes us all turn to Her, whom Her divine Son will never
refuse.”

Magnificat, as Mary’s prayer-song (Luke 1: 46-55) is known, is a
fitting title for this little book of praise and gratitude. Ave Maria!

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the award-winning author of 10 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Vigan and Other Stories, and Out of Cebu: Essays and Personal Prose. She edited four books, co-edited six books, and co-authored a novel, Angelica's Daughters.
Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.
Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has received several travel grants from the USIS.
She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She teaches creative writing at the Writers Program at UCLA-Extension.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Every time I
visit Cebu, there is a new development in the Historic District that surprises me.
Once it was seeing the Cathedral, grounds, and nearby Cathedral Museum fully restored to their Colonial grandeur;
another time it was seeing the Plaza Independencia all dolled up, clean and
landscaped; other times it was watching the Yap-Sandiego House and the Jesuit
House rise up to become two of the most visited historic sites in Cebu. This time, I was delighted to see that a Chinese Museum is
forthcoming in the port area. I'm talking about the old historic building along the wharf, facing the City Hall. It seems appropriate that it will become a Chinese Museum, given the long and colorful history of the Chinese in historic Cebu.

I am a lover of
Old Cebu and yearn for the area to experience a revival. Most other countries
have preserved their historic districts, creating memorable places for their
constituents and tourists alike. The fact is that such historic areas bring in
a lot of tourist revenue to the government and locals; consider the income tourists can generate from staying in hotels, eating, buying
souvenirs, commuting, and so on – a lot of money. But the government and locals
themselves need to make an effort to fix and clean up the historic sites and
surrounding areas. It’s a win-win situation, if only people would think about
it.

Aside from the
forthcoming Chinese Museum, I saw that the Jesuit House has developed a new
gallery with an informative exhibit about the findings and history of the area.
And plowing ahead with his development of the historic 1703 Jesuit House, owner
Jaime Sy is constructing a reproduction of the façade of the Old Colon Houses,
with the overhanging tiled “tayamtam.” It will be used as a café, and I assume
perhaps a souvenir shop or two, as this project develops.

Jaime Sy and Val Sandiego (who owns the Yap-Sandiego House fronting the Heritage
Monument) have been persistent in fixing their historic places, sinking lots of
their personal funds in the process.
Cebu should be grateful to people like these who are concerned
about preserving historic sites and not than just making money.

I wish more
Cebuanos would have such dedication to history and culture. Maybe then, someone
with money would buy the vacant lot fronting the Heritage Museum. This would be
the perfect place to build a Colonial style building for shops and offices;
such a structure would contribute much to the development of historic Cebu.

Talking with
friends the other day, we thought it would be lovely if the Aboitiz family, who
owns the Casa Gorordo Museum and RAFI Foundation in the historic district, would develop this vacant lot.
The Aboitiz family is after all a land developer, among other things, and I am
sure such a development would be an easy matter for such a wealthy and powerful
family. It would tie their name in further as pioneers in the
gentrification of Old Cebu, building on their developments of the Casa Gorordo
Museum and RAFI Foundation.

Speaking of the
Casa Gorordo, I attended the June 24 fiesta in the Parian District of
Cebu. The patron saint of the community
is St. John the Baptist, and as a member of the Cofradia, I participated in the
prayers, procession, and dinner at the Casa Gorordo as a guest of Pepit
Revilles, member of the Gorordo Family, who owned the Casa Gorordo. When Pepit
sold the Casa Gorordo and grounds to the Aboitiz family, they agreed that the
June 24 fiesta celebration in the Casa Gorordo will be continued. Pepit
described how her family hosted such fiesta dinners every June 24.

Unfortunately
this year’s June 24 fiesta dinner was rained on; in addition somewhat perturbing was
that instead of having an old-fashioned fiesta dinner as the Gorordo Family
would have held, the event turned out to be a corporate affair, complete
with two videos about RAFI and a RAFI project (Gabii Sa Kabilin), and a
repeated invitation to partners to partner up with RAFI. This introduction took so much time that by
the time Pepit Revilles talked about her family traditional fiesta dinner, the
audience was quite confused about the point of the evening. Perhaps the fiesta dinner ought to stay
focused on the point of the event, which is to continue the tradition of having
an old-fashioned fiesta dinner after the procession honoring St. John the
Baptist, patron of the Parian District of Cebu. An understated mention
of RAFI’s role in maintaining this quaint family tradition of the Gorordo
family would have been more appropriate, and would have maintained the kind of warmth that the Gorordo family had when they had such fiesta dinners. (Strangely, there were two caterers, one hired by RAFI and the other by Pepit Revilles, for the June 24 dinner.)

Still another
place that I visited was the Sugbu Museum, which always impresses me at how
well-laid out the exhibits are. My favorites are the galleries with the
Pre-hispanic artifacts. Congratulations to Jobers Bersales who continues to
maintain this museum at a high standard; it is now rated the best in such
tourist books as the Lonely Planet, and in internet sites such as TripAdvisor.

I haven’t had
the chance to visit Café Elysa Restaurant, one of my favorites in Cebu, but
will do so when I have the chance. I am anxious to see what wonderful things
owner Steve Aznar and manager Joy Uy have done to this delightful Restaurant
(also ranked highly in TripAdvisor).

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the award-winning author of 10 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Vigan and Other Stories, and Out of Cebu: Essays and Personal Prose. She edited four books, co-edited six books, and co-authored a novel, Angelica's Daughters.
Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.
Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has received several travel grants from the USIS.
She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She teaches creative writing at the Writers Program at UCLA-Extension.

Thursday, July 5, 2012, 6 p.m.-
"The Evolution of Cecilia Manguerra Brainard" - Cecilia will speak
about her journey as a writer, Ortigas Foundation, to secure a seat,
call 631-1231 local 222 and 228 or email
ortigasfoundation@ortigas.com.ph.

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the award-winning author of 10 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Vigan and Other Stories, and Out of Cebu: Essays and Personal Prose. She edited four books, co-edited six books, and co-authored a novel, Angelica's Daughters.
Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.
Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has received several travel grants from the USIS.
She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She teaches creative writing at the Writers Program at UCLA-Extension.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

JAIME C. LAYA recently emailed me the following re the book launch of MAGNIFICAT: Mama Mary's Pilgrim Sites. He's one of the contributors, writing about the "Shrine of Our Lady of the Abandoned" in Santa Ana Church, Manila. I've posted his bio after his email. (The book launch of Magnificat on June 30 is open to the public.)
~~~~ Dear Ms. Brainard,

I invited some people from Sta. Ana to the book launch. I hope that's okay. Congratulations on the book!Jaime Laya

~~~~

JAIME C. LAYA is Chairman of Philtrust Bank,
Independent Director of various corporations, and Trustee of various
educational, charitable and cultural institutions. He holds a B.S.B.A. from the
University of the Philippines, M.S. from Georgia Institute of Technology, and
Ph.D. (financial management) from Stanford University. He has served as
Minister of the Budget, Minister of Education, Culture and Sports, and Governor
of the Central Bank of the Philippines. He was Action Officer of the Intramuros
Administration (1979-86) and Chairman of the National Commission for Culture
and the Arts (1996-2001). He is now helping in the conservation of the Shrine
of Our Lady of the Abandoned at Sta. Ana, Manila.

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the award-winning author of 10 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Vigan and Other Stories, and Out of Cebu: Essays and Personal Prose. She edited four books, co-edited six books, and co-authored a novel, Angelica's Daughters.
Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.
Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has received several travel grants from the USIS.
She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She teaches creative writing at the Writers Program at UCLA-Extension.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Anvil Publishing Inc, is proud to
announce that the book, Magnificat: Mama
Mary’s Pilgrim Sites will be released on June 30, 2012 at Powerbooks,
Greenbelt 4, Makati.

The book collects 24 essays by devotees
about their experiences in Marian Pilgrim sites. The sites are located in Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, India, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the
United States, and there are eight Pilgrim sites in the Philippines.

The book includes short write-ups of other international pilgrim
sites and some Catholic Prayers. Archbishop Tagle of Manila has issued an
Imprimatur for the book, Magnificat: Mama Mary's Pilgrim Sites.

The essays in the book are
varied. Some are factual, as that by Jaime C. Laya about the Shrine of Our Lady
of the Abandoned, Santa Ana Church. Ma. Ceres P. Doyo also writes an
informative account of Our Lady of Caysasay in Taal, Batangas.

Other essays are more personal
such as the work of Linda Nietes-Little who is known as a book seller of
Filipiniana books, and whose article in this book marks her debut as a writer.
Of her essay, When Mama Mary Called From
Fatima, Nietes-Little says, “This recollection of our visit to Fatima is a
memorial to my sister, Violeta. She passed away on January 28, 2010 at the age
of eighty.”

Celeste, the pseudonym of a
contributor, writes about an unwed daughter who finds herself pregnant, and the
spiritual journey mother and daughter make when they make the pilgrimage to the
Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico.

Penelope V. Flores, Professor at
San Francisco State University, writes of her visit to the Maryam Monastery in
Lake Tana, Tigray, Ethiopia, and how, using a local twig brush, started
painting. “It was as if Mama Mary told me, ‘Lose yourself. Paint my Lake Tana
emanation and your canvasses will show feelings’,” Flores writes.

Millicent Dypiangco testifies in
her article, At Maria Lanakila, Our
Prayers were Heard and Answered,
about yearning for a child and how her prayers to Our Lady of Maria
Lanakila in Lahaina, Maui were answered with the birth of her daughter,
Miranda.

As Erlinda E. Panlilio, writer
and editor, says in her blurb for the book: “Running as a leitmotif in all the essays
in this book is the writers’ palpable love for Mama Mary. Each writer has
undergone a change in his or her life or outlook following a visit to a Marian
site. Some may have experienced a “miracle,” or felt consoled and renewed;
others a deepening of spirituality, or an epiphany, an insight into the divine.
Although we know that Jesus is the only Way to the Father, it is our belief in
the power of Mary’s intercession to her Son, borne out of the Bible’s Cana
story, that makes us all turn to Her, whom Her divine Son will never refuse.”

The book has also received praise from Reverend Father Dionisio M.
Miranda, SVD, President of the University of San Carlos: The Magnificat has
always been a testament to God’s paradoxical dealings with his people. This
book assembles a tableau of witnesses to how a fleeting visit with Mary can
turn into a life-changing introduction to her Son. Through their stories the
author offers their readers the distinct possibility of setting the stage for a
personal, if vicarious, epiphany.

Bishop Leopoldo C. Jaucian, SVD,
DD, Bishop of Bangued, says: “This is another
outstanding book by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard. Profoundly Marian and
beautifully written by the contributors as these are their personal
experiences! To our fellow devotees and would-be devotees of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, you will surely fall in love with "Magnificat: Mama Mary's Pilgrim
Sites" and love Our Blessed Mother even more.

As Father Reuter
succinctly says, “The devotion to Mary is strong in the hearts of every
Filipino.” Magnificat: Mama Mary’s Pilgrim Sites provides testimonies of just
that – the firm devotion and love Filipinos have for Our Lady

The book’s editor is Cecilia
Manguerra Brainard, award-winning author and literary figure in the Philippine
and Philippine American communities. The book, Magnificat: Mama Mary’s Pilgrim Sites follows her recent book, Out of Cebu: Essays and Personal Prose,
released last February by the University of San Carlos Press.

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the award-winning author of 10 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Vigan and Other Stories, and Out of Cebu: Essays and Personal Prose. She edited four books, co-edited six books, and co-authored a novel, Angelica's Daughters.
Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.
Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has received several travel grants from the USIS.
She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She teaches creative writing at the Writers Program at UCLA-Extension.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

It's confirmed: the book launching of Magnificat: Mama Mary's PIlgrim
Sites, is on Saturday, June 30, 2012, at 3 p.m., Powerbooks, Greenbelt 4.
Attached is the e-invitation from Anvil. Please forward, and please
come. It would really be good to have an excellent turnout at the
booklaunch, so please do attend and/or tell others to attend.

We will most likely have a
book launching in the US, and I will get back to you about that.

Here's info about the book:

MAGNIFICAT: Mama Mary's Pilgrim Sites

Collected and Edited by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard,
this book collects 24 Marian devotees' accounts of their experiences in Marian
pilgrim
sites. The sites are found in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France,
India, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the United States, and there
are eight Pilgrim sites in the Philippines. The book includes short writeups
of other international pilgrim sites and some Catholic Prayers. Archbishop
Tagle of Manila has issued an Imprimatur for the book, Magnificat: Mama
Mary's Pilgrim Sites.

This is another outstanding book by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard. Profoundly
Marian and beautifully written by the contributors as these are their personal
experiences! To our fellow devotees and would-be devotees of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, you will surely fall in love with "Magnificat: Mama Mary's Pilgrim
Sites" and love Our Blessed Mother even more. - Bishop Leopoldo
C.
Jaucian,
SVD, DD, Bishop of Bangued, Philippines"

The devotion to Mama Mary is strong in the hearts of every Filipino. -
Father James B. Reuter, SJ

The Magnificat has always been a testament to God’s paradoxical dealings
with his people. This book assembles a tableau of witnesses to how a fleeting
visit with Mary can turn into a life-changing introduction to her Son. Through
their stories the author offers their readers the distinct possibility of setting
the stage for a personal, if vicarious, epiphany. - Father Dionisio
M. Miranda, SVD , President . University of San Carlos

Running as a leitmotif in all the essays in this book is the writers’ palpable
love for Mama Mary. Each writer has undergone a change in his or her life or
outlook following a visit to a Marian site. Some may have experienced a “miracle,” or
felt consoled and renewed; others a deepening of spirituality, or an epiphany,
an insight into the divine. Although we know that Jesus is the only Way to
the Father, it is our belief in the power of Mary’s intercession to her
Son, borne out of the Bible’s Cana story, that makes us all turn to Her,
whom Her divine Son will never refuse. Kudos to Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
for putting together an engaging collection of stories that magnify the humble
handmaid of the Lord. - Erlinda E. Panlilio, Writer and Editor

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the award-winning author of 10 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Vigan and Other Stories, and Out of Cebu: Essays and Personal Prose. She edited four books, co-edited six books, and co-authored a novel, Angelica's Daughters.
Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.
Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has received several travel grants from the USIS.
She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She teaches creative writing at the Writers Program at UCLA-Extension.

Thursday, July 5, 2012, 6 p.m.- "The Evolution of Cecilia Manguerra Brainard" - Cecilia will speak about her journey as a writer, Ortigas Foundation, to secure a seat, call 631-1231 local 222 and 228 or email ortigasfoundation@ortigas.com.ph.

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the award-winning author of 10 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Vigan and Other Stories, and Out of Cebu: Essays and Personal Prose. She edited four books, co-edited six books, and co-authored a novel, Angelica's Daughters.
Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.
Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has received several travel grants from the USIS.
She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She teaches creative writing at the Writers Program at UCLA-Extension.

About Me

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Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the award-winning author of 10 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Vigan and Other Stories, and Out of Cebu: Essays and Personal Prose. She edited four books, co-edited six books, and co-authored a novel, Angelica's Daughters.
Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.
Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has received several travel grants from the USIS.
She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She teaches creative writing at the Writers Program at UCLA-Extension.